“I cannot give you the formula for success, but I can give you the formula for failure, which is: Try to please everybody.”
— Herbert Swope, American editor and journalist
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Posts Tagged ‘#365Ways’
Please Yourself
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, Fiction, genre fiction, quotes, success, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 26, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Forest and Chill
Posted in Other, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, forest-bathing, mindfulness, mini-break, nature, relaxation, shinrin-yoku, Thoughts, Writers on January 25, 2024| Leave a Comment »
After a number of technical issues, overlapping assignments, and a mashup of meetings, I’ve finished a big day-job project. I’ve got to say, it feels good.
Not “go out and party” good, more like “take a deep breath and shake off all that accumulated stress” good. Forest bathing good.
What’s that, you may ask?
Essentially, forest bathing (or shinrin-yoku in Japanese) is a walk in the woods designed to reconnect you with nature in ways that are beneficial for your health.
Healing in the forest: a guide to forest bathing
Spending time in nature and experiencing reduced stress levels allows you to think more clearly and creatively. It can also increase your mood, focus, and energy.
Sounds good, right? Except that there’s a coating of ice on everything thanks to last night’s storm and I still have work to do and (let’s be honest) it’s freezing out there!
So instead, I will find another way to spend a few moments in the forest.
How, you may ask? Meet Tree.fm: Tune Into Forests From Around The World.
Want a map of global forest sounds? Check out Sounds of the Forest.
Want even more chill? Do you have ten minutes or eight hours?
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New Interview Out Today
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, genre fiction, inspiration, interviews, Thoughts, Writers, Writers of the Future, writing on January 24, 2024| Leave a Comment »
My interview with the lovely Kim Lengling of the Let Fear Bounce podcast is live today!
We had a great time discussing writing, creativity, my experience with Writers of the Future and many other topics, and I hope you enjoy it too.
Check out the interview on YouTube or Spotify, and enjoy!
Pen to Paper: Navigating a Writer’s Reality – Author J.R. Johnson
Let Fear Bounce – Tossing out nuggets of hope | Podcast on Spotify
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What We Can Become
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, free fiction, future, genre fiction, hope, inspiration, short stories, Writers on January 23, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Released today, Grist’s Imagine 2200 contest brings new, more hopeful, visions of the future.
Imagine 2200: The 2024 climate fiction contest collection | Grist
Grist’s Imagine 2200: Climate Fiction for Future Ancestors short story contest celebrates stories that offer vivid, hope-filled, diverse visions of climate progress. From 1,000 submissions, our reviewers and judges selected the three winners and nine finalists you will discover in this collection. These stories are not afraid to explore the challenges ahead, but offer hope that we can work together to build a more sustainable and just world. Through rich characters, lovingly sketched settings, and gripping plots, they welcome you into futures that celebrate who we are and what we can become — and, we hope, inspire you to work toward them.
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Something Old Is Something New
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, Alex White, definitions, genre fiction, learning@lunch, words, Writers, writing on January 22, 2024| Leave a Comment »
When I’m reading and see a word that’s unfamiliar, I like to look it up. This weekend, that word was “tonitruous.” I ran across it while reading book three in The Salvagers series by Alex White: The Worst of All Possible Worlds.
Never heard of it? Neither had I. Neither had my Kobo’s dictionary, which is unusual. It was time to dig deeper.
Tonitruous Definition & Meaning – Merriam-Webster
tonitruous from Latin tonitruum thunder
English use of the word was first documented in “The Challenge of the Knights Errant” by William Drummond in 1606.
And now I’m delighted to say that I’ve learned something new.
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Cherish the Oddities
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, creativity, quotes, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 21, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Who wants to become a writer? And why? Because it’s the answer to everything. To “Why am I here?” To uselessness. It’s the streaming reason for living. To note, to pin down, to build up, to create, to be astonished at nothing, to cherish the oddities, to let nothing go down the drain, to make something, to make a great flower out of life, even if it’s a cactus.
— Enid Bagnold (1889–1981), British novelist, playwright
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Why AI?
Posted in Science!, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #wotf34, AI, genre fiction, inspiration, research, Writers, Writers of the Future, writing on January 20, 2024| Leave a Comment »
Fellow Writers of the Future winner (2018) N.R.M. Roshak has started an excellent weekly newsletter on AI. Check it out if you’re interested in what’s happening in the field, how this tech is influencing social, business, and other arenas, or why I post results like this: Bright Colors, Happy Tone.
View back issues and subscribe here: Newsletter: AI Week.
It’s not for experts and it’s extremely readable. It’s really aimed at science fiction writers and readers: non-experts (like me) who are interested in the impact of this tech on society.
Enjoy!
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You Don’t Give Up
Posted in Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, Anne Lamott, creativity, genre fiction, hope, inspiration, persistence, Thoughts, Writers, writing on January 19, 2024| Leave a Comment »
“Hope begins in the dark, the stubborn hope that if you just show up and try to do the right thing, the dawn will come. You wait and watch and work: you don‘t give up.”
— Anne Lamott
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Witness What’s Hidden
Posted in Other, Science!, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, art, creativity, inspiration, photography, video on January 18, 2024| Leave a Comment »
I tried to skip past this link and couldn’t.
An augmented-reality filter reveals the hidden movements all around us
This simple technique produces dazzling results, causing tree branches to shimmer as they sway in the wind, dust particles to become bold beams of light, and camouflaged insects and animals to be instantly unveiled. De Boer’s montage serves not only as a free and easy tutorial on the possibilities of this creative tool, but also as eye candy for anyone keen to witness the hidden patterns of movement that surround us.
The effect is fascinating. In some ways it’s the opposite of a time-lapse, which captures what remains still and merges motion. Here, movements that typically remain hidden are visible. Like a camouflaged deer, or blowing leaves, or even footprints.
While some examples are just pretty, it’s hard not to jump to the scientific and creative possibilities of this technique. I haven’t explored video effects, but this makes me want to start.
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Bright Colors, Happy Tone
Posted in Funny, Writing, tagged #365Ways, #365Ways2024, #notwriting, AI, genre fiction, Thoughts, writing on January 17, 2024| 1 Comment »
I’d hoped to carve out some writing time today but instead I’m dealing with a lot of weird tech issues, some of which are concrete problems and some just disappointments.
Here’s an example of the latter. Note the prompt.
No, AI. Just… no.
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